Pavement or road markings (e.g., paints, tapes, and individually mounted articles) guide and direct motorists and pedestrians traveling along roadways and paths. Pavement or road markings can be used on, for example, roads, highways, parking lots, and recreational trails, to form stripes, bars, and markings for the delineation of lanes, crosswalks, parking spaces, symbols, legends, and the like. Paint was a preferred pavement marking for many years. However, modern pavement marking materials offer significant advantages over paint, such as increased visibility, retroreflectance, improved durability, and temporary and/or removable marking options. Further, currently available road marking materials can be, for example, sheets, films, tapes, sprayable compositions, and raised pavement markers.
Pavement or road markings are subject to continuous wear and exposure to the elements as well as road chemicals. Consequently, there is a need for pavement or road marking compositions and materials that provide durability and retained reflectivity once applied to a surface and dried and/or hardened. Thermoplastic polymers are often included in road markings because they are highly durable. Additionally, the use of thermoplastic polymers in road markings results in shorter track-free time. “Track-free time,” as used herein, is the time between application and the point where material will no longer transfer to vehicle tires. Shorter track-free times increase marking efficiency by reducing or eliminating the need for traffic disruption through such measures as closing lanes or placing traffic control devices to protect such markings.
Examples of thermoplastic road marking materials include, for example, ethylene acrylic acid (“EAA”) polymers (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,252 (Tolliver)) or ethylene vinyl acetate (“EVA”) polymers (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,536,569 (Lasch et al.)).